Some games can really captivate you. Remnant: From the Ashes for example. It can happen that you lose track of time. At least that was the case for MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus. Read here why he almost misses work for a game.
Recently, I’ve been playing a lot of Remnant: From the Ashes, a Soulsborne-style role-playing game with firearms. A strange combination, but it works surprisingly well.
Remnant was the surprise hit in August 2019 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. I actually intended to check out the game much earlier. However, other things kept getting in the way – not least the new Call of Duty.
Why did I start playing it now? Remnant is currently free on Epic until August 20th. Some friends got it there and started playing with me. Luckily.
In the last few days, I’ve already invested over 20 hours into the game, and I’m sure it will be a lot more in the near future. After all, I’m even spending my nights on it now. For instance, I went to bed today around 4:30 AM.
Because not only with my friends, but even alone, when they don’t have time, Remnant is incredibly fun. How does that work?
Remnant has just the right balance of difficulty and story
What it’s about in Remnant: Remnant has a cool, post-apocalyptic setting that resembles a bit of a crossover between Dark Souls and Fallout. I haven’t progressed too far in the campaign yet and don’t want to spoil, but I’ve read a bit into the lore. Because it’s really intriguing.
The Earth has been nearly destroyed by a strange species of living plants, known as the Seed. They seem intent on exterminating humanity, and somehow we as players manage to fight back and give hope to the survivors.
Along the way, we encounter mystical beings that help us in some way and make us stronger, travel through different parts of the world and try to push back the Seed.
The main story gains depth by having diaries, notes, and computers scattered throughout the world that we can read and that reference our real world. This creates a really good immersion and occasionally leads to a heavy gulp when a crazy old man suddenly talks about movies and Catch-22.
How tough is the game: Remnant is often compared to Dark Souls when it comes to difficulty. It is known for challenging the skills of its players and can be unfair at times.
Remnant isn’t quite as hard, but still similar. Items are not lost upon death, and most enemies can’t send you back to the checkpoint in one hit.
That’s actually the advantage. I love Soulsborne games, but sometimes they are just too frustrating for me to play in the evening. I can also relax and play Remnant and manage to go to bed without a new bite mark on the controller or keyboard. And with some tips, the entry is quite easy.
This also allows me to engage a bit deeper with the story. When I’m not rushing to the next fire because my healing items are all gone, I have more time and leisure to look at the surroundings, which are really pretty in Remnant.
However, with Remnant, the German voice acting is really amazing. I had never experienced a game before where I could say to myself and friends after a short time: “This game sounds really good in German.”
For me, that’s a big plus; it has become rare for a German voiceover to captivate me like that. Kudos to the voice actors.
Lots of content – even for a quick play
What can you do in the game? The core of the gameplay consists of battles with a pretty cool combat system. It builds around shooter gameplay with various weapons and complements it with skills, talents, and melee weapons.
We fight enemies using shotguns, pistols, and rifles, but also use axes, spears, and cool abilities and spells, almost like in Bioshock. The enemies come in various difficulty levels:
- normal enemies
- elite mobs with special abilities and more health
- dungeon bosses as reinforced versions of normal enemies
- world bosses, unique enemies with special mechanics
The first world bosses you may encounter are Singe and the Ent. One of them will block your path shortly before an important point in the story. Here, skill is really required for the first time, but with the right tricks, even Singe and the Ent can be easily defeated.
As a reward for this, special items await you, with which you can craft boss weapons or skills, around which cool builds can often be created. I currently walk around with two faithful Seed servants.
What about long-term motivation? I myself am not through with the campaign yet, partly because I am fighting through the new roguelike survival mode in the DLC Swamps of Corsus.
This features random levels with random enemies and bosses that become increasingly difficult as I continuously improve. It’s always a cool change from the story when I just want to try out new weapons or builds.
Additionally, there is the adventure mode, where you can specifically farm equipment. The worlds in Remnant are randomly generated, and certain bosses may not appear in a run. With the adventure mode, you can easily search for and defeat them by rolling specific areas again.
This also helps to unlock all traits that enhance the character and open up new possibilities for builds.
More is coming soon!
There are many reasons to get Remnant for free right now and especially with friends, but also alone, you can have a lot of fun here. I’m currently so excited about Remnant that I’m even sacrificing sleep for it. Although I now also have the advantage of being able to play it FOR work.
I’m also really looking forward to what’s coming. On August 20, the new DLC Subject 2923 will be released, which will bring the story of the game to a close and introduce slave-like rat people into the game. This makes me particularly glad to have started now.
This way, I don’t have to wait for the end of the story but can play through everything in one go – although I probably won’t stay up as late for it in the future, as being tired against new bosses surely doesn’t work well.
